


The Aphrodite Cabin's Front Porch Salon

by procrastinationfairy



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, also drew and nico have dirty mouths but it would disturb their dynamic to clean up their language, i used this to not deal with reading about puritans, mentions of trans will bc that is always good, solangelo is more of a plot point than the actual focus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 13:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12013338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/procrastinationfairy/pseuds/procrastinationfairy
Summary: “Do you ever wash your hair except when I make you?” Drew asks as he sits down on the step in front of her. Nico glares, but it has no fire behind it. He seems distracted.“Are you going to cut my hair like you did last time?” he asks.Drew raises her perfectly drawn on brow. “You liked it?”Nico shrugs. She gets the impression he doesn’t care one way or the other how he looks. “People said it looked good,” he mutters, and by people, he surely means someone in particular. // After the Giant War, Drew Tanaka develops a habit of cutting Nico di Angelo's hair, primarily to save the world from his lack of beauty care.





	The Aphrodite Cabin's Front Porch Salon

**Author's Note:**

> Can I write anything but one-shots? No? Okay. Honestly, I wrote this because I wanted to explore Drew's character. I think so many of the minor characters could be fleshed out, and she in particular sticks out. This fic could have taken a lot of different directions, but I eventually settled on Drew and Nico as the focus because they forced me to focus on a different aspect of writing than I normally do. I usually rely on dialogue to portray characters, and I won't pretend I didn't do some of that here. But I like to think I worked a little bit outside of my comfort zone. Hopefully you all like this as much as I do.

The first time, Nico di Angelo’s hair is greasy, full of split ends, and absolutely horrific. Drew simply cannot take it anymore. She’s aware that someone (either the Roman praetor or Piper, but she’s inclined to believe it’s Piper, due to the shoddy workmanship illustrated by her half-sister’s own hairdo) cut it for him not long after the Battle at Camp Half-Blood, but they _clearly_ didn’t do a good job. It’s been almost a month, and his hair brushes his shoulders. Drew is surprised it doesn’t leave grease stains on his shirts.

She corners him in the dining pavilion during lunch, where he’s sitting alone at his table. Jason and Percy are both gone at the moment, so he stares down at his meal as if it’s going to kill him. Drew’s ninety percent sure he’d kill it first, except it’s already dead, because it’s food.

“When you finish eating, go take a shower and meet me in front of the Aphrodite cabin,” she says. Nico only looks up, and he doesn’t seem at all inclined to do what she says. She turns on the charm and twists a curl around her finger, repeating her words. Still no reaction.

Gods, Drew knows that even as an Aphrodite kid, she’s not going to be to everyone’s taste, but she’s pretty damn hot. That charmspeak would draw the attention of anyone attracted to girls. If he didn’t--

Oh.

Drew briefly considers using that as blackmail to make di Angelo show up, but she decides against it. No one deserves even to have the threat of being outed put on their shoulders. Besides, she has other methods of persuasion, and surely di Angelo will fall prey to one of them.

It turns out the most surefire method is to harass him until he agrees, which he does after she tries many tactics. She’s still not entirely sure he’ll show up until later that afternoon, when he arrives in a black t-shirt and jeans, hair still dripping wet. That's good. Drew hadn’t remembered to tell him not to dry his hair, but boys tend to be lazy about that sort of thing. She snaps her fingers, admiring her hot pink nails, and points at the front steps of the cabin, where the Aphrodite kids always hold their impromptu haircuts or makeovers. “Sit,” she pronounces, like she’s talking to a dog. She uses charmspeak, though she knows it won’t work. It will give the boy plausible deniability, at least, and it would do Drew’s reputation a little good for people to think she could get a child of the Big Three.

Nico looks a little put out, but he does as told. “What do you want?” he asks shortly.

“I’m going to cut your hair,” she pronounces, grabbing the scissors from where she’d set them on the front porch. The salon cape lies underneath them, and she picks it up and ties it around his neck before he has a chance to react.

He doesn’t struggle, thank the gods, but he does tug at the neck and whisper, “What the fuck?”

“Have you never been to a salon?” Drew asks. In hindsight, it’s a dumbass question. Nico di Angelo, greasy hair, greasy skin, and probably greasy nails, if that’s possible, in a salon? No way.

Nico shrugs, anyhow. He grows less concerned with the cape. “Why are you cutting my hair?”

“It’s unhealthy,” Drew says, and Nico seems to balk at the word. He quickly stills his face and listens as she continues. “You have split ends. You clearly don’t take good care of your hair. You need to wash it a few times a week, shampoo and conditioner, and regular trims. How short do you want your hair? Actually, I’m going to cut it kind of short, since you can’t be trusted with personal hygiene.” If she could get anywhere, she’d harp at him about his skin as well. Why was it so difficult for boys to understand that washing their faces would go a long way in preventing acne?

“I don’t want it as short as Frank’s. Or Jason’s even,” Nico says after a moment. Okay. Drew would prefer to go short because, as she said, his hair was atrocious. But she isn’t one to stifle personal taste, even if it was deplorable. She’ll judge. Not silently, of course, but she won’t force anyone to change their sense of fashion. Besides, if she could get him to take halfway decent care of his hair, it would kind of look nice. Seeing what she has to work with now that Nico’s hair is clean, he has a nice curl to his hair. Not much, but it gives his hair some body. She could make it work.

When she finishes cutting Nico’s hair, Drew pulls out her pocket mirror to let him admire it. Nico barely spares a glance, ignoring how it _looks_ in favor of how it feels. He reaches to the back of his head, where part of his neck, once hidden by his hair, is now exposed.

“Nice,” he says, almost a compliment, and leaves.

Drew notices he walks towards the infirmary. Funny. Last she’d heard, he was the last person anyone would find in there.

-

It’s a month later that Drew drags Nico back to the Aphrodite cabin.

At this point, Nico di Angelo is somewhat settled into camp. He’s making friends, from Jason and Piper to Clovis in the Hypnos cabin to even a few, surprisingly, Apollo campers. Drew notices that one is Will Solace. She absolutely does not care about this.

Anyway, it’s been a month, and Nico’s hair is looking a little . . . in need of work. He doesn’t have so many split ends, but the grease has returned, and Drew’s honestly not sure if he brushes it most days. So she tells Nico to take a shower and meet her outside of the Aphrodite cabin again. He takes no coercion this time, and he shows up in a timely manner, hair damp.

“Do you ever wash your hair except when I make you?” Drew asks as he sits down on the step in front of her. Nico glares, but it has no fire behind it. He seems distracted.

“Are you going to cut my hair like you did last time?” he asks.

Drew raises her perfectly drawn on brow. “You liked it?”

Nico shrugs. She gets the impression he doesn’t care one way or the other how he looks. “People said it looked good,” he mutters, and by people, he surely means someone in particular. Drew is half-glad she doesn’t have her scissors on hand, as if she’d started trimming, she probably would have cut Nico’s ear off. Or not. Because she is over it.

“People,” she drawls. “Sweetheart, don’t lie to me. If you want your hair to impress someone, just say the word.”

She still doesn’t risk saying a thing about his sexuality, even though it’s old gossip that Nico actually liked Percy by this point. Nico has not made any moves to be openly gay or bi or pan, and Drew will not pressure him. That goes against the Aphrodite code.

Nico’s cheeks grow to a deep red, and he ducks his head under his arms. Drew forces him to raise his chin as she ties the cape around his neck once more.

“You don’t have to name names. Of course, you’re more than welcome to,” she says with a wink.

Nico takes a breath, then says in one, “He said he liked it.”

If Drew weren’t so experienced in gleaning information from mumbles and whispers, she would have had no idea what he meant. “Alright. So this boy likes your hair just long enough to see the waves. This haircut does require a bit of styling”--Nico looks unenthused, so she adds--”but I’ll cut it so the most I’ll ask of you is to _wash_ and _brush_ your hair daily. Well, I’m going to give you shampoo and conditioner for your hair type. You can do that every other day, if you don’t get too sweaty, but considering your . . . activities, I imagine you will. But seriously. Brush your hair everyday, or I will find your hairbrush and stick it up your butt.”

Nico snorts and shakes his head.

“Don’t do that while I’m cutting if you want this to turn out right.”

This time, the trim goes a little faster. She gives out the beauty products, doing the Nico’s future lover (and the world) a favor by making sure di Angelo’s hair was well-cared for. If Drew cared about being perceived as a decent person, she would use that as proof. But she doesn’t, and she won't.

-

By the third time, Drew is forced to admit that, yes, Nico is really interested in Will Solace, and what a fucking pair.

They’re _friends_ , of course, because who, besides Drew, isn’t friends with Will? He’s such a nice guy, and so friendly. Even di Angelo would crack under that pressure. Unfortunately, they hang out more than Will would most people he’s just friendly with, and it seems like he’s probably interested in Nico right back.

Drew doesn’t care that much. She and Will have been broken up for almost a year. She never was that interested in him to begin with. So what if Will’s finally over her? It doesn’t matter.

(So here’s the old news. Daphne Solace arrives at camp at the age of twelve. Drew is thirteen and has already been there for a year. They become fast friends, as some of the younger kids. It’s only a few weeks into the summer that Daphne says she’s not a girl--no, he’s trans, and he wants to be called Will. Chiron helps him change the records, both in the mortal world and in camp, and his siblings help him to begin transitioning. Will asks Drew to cut his hair for him, and Drew is happy to to do so.

This is at a time where there aren’t too many campers. Friends can be a little hard to come by, especially with cabin rivalries, and Drew counts herself lucky to find Will, who’s an absolute sweetheart and a good person to have on your side, as after just one summer, he’s already made a name for himself as a healer.

Drew and Will are friends through the beginning of the Titan War. Silena begins to date Beckendorf, and Drew watches with vague interest, as the rite will bring about an interesting heartbreak--except Silena doesn’t break up with him. That’s her mistake, Drew is sure. Now, Drew is fourteen by this point, and she is officially the second oldest Aphrodite cabin member. She will be the next up as counselor, and she has to prove herself. Will is easy, available, and when she asks him out, he shyly agrees. They date a few months, and Will falls for her. Of course he does. She’s an Aphrodite kid.

She dumps him after the Titan War. Silena is dead, and Drew knows it’s all about the rite. Their mother loves a good tragedy, and that’s what the rite is for. It’s to honor their mother. Drew is now the head of the Aphrodite cabin, and she must succeed where Silena failed.

“I thought we were friends,” he says.

Drew doesn’t react. “It’s a rite of passage.”

“You knew you were going to hurt me. You knew and you didn’t even care.” In this moment, Will looks very handsome, sun-streaked blond hair and nicely tanned skin and freckles and blue eyes. Drew always did like to show off her boyfriend. It was a bit of pride, her first conquest as an Aphrodite kid. She knew it would never last. Why didn’t Will?

Will is so offended, and Drew had never anticipated that. From that day, they are no longer friends.)

None of that matters. It’s all in the past. Drew is an Aphrodite kid, through and through, and it’s her duty to know the romances of every camper. She uses this opportunity to learn more about Nico’s love life.

“So, hon, when are you going to ask Solace out?” She snips at the bangs hanging just above Nico’s nose, debating a moment before taking off a bit more.

Nico starts a little, causing a bit of an uneven cut. She’ll have to make it shorter to compensate. “What? I--”

“No lying,” she says, wagging her manicured finger. “I suppose I could ask when he’ll ask you out, but I don’t imagine you know. And Will is kind of shy like that. I don’t think he’d take the chance. If you want him, sweetheart, you’ll have to go for it.”

Nico stammers and blushes, and for someone the whole camp imagined a terrifying monster, he’s rather shy. It would be cute, except it’s standing in the way of what Drew wants. He finally gains some composure, and he pins on a solemn mask. “I didn’t come here to gossip about boys,” he says firmly.

“Well, darling, if you wanted to talk about girls, all you had to do was say,” she says. “But we both know that’s not what you’re interested in. We do beauty _and_ love here. I know for a fact you only care about beauty in terms of love, and if it weren’t for him, you’d probably never do a thing about your hair.”

If Drew were any of her siblings, she’d have hoped for some sort of statement that no, Nico actually came to visit his friend. But she holds no such hopes, and she knows better anyway. Nico isn’t her friend, and she isn’t his. This is purely a mutually beneficial arrangement. Nico can impress Will Solace, and Drew doesn’t have to put up with split ends.

When Nico leaves after this trim, he runs into Will walking out of his cabin, on his way to an infirmary shift, no doubt. Will smiles real wide, his sunshiny smile that lights up the whole world like his father’s chariot, and he reaches to tug at one of Nico’s curls. So he does like his hair. Now that Nico’s actually taking care of it, he does kind of have nice hair. Silky, a deep earthy brown, it’s not right that those who can’t appreciate that gift are blessed like so. (Silena had hair like that. Drew used to be so jealous, as her own hair was just plain black. Silena was disgustingly nice about it too, assuring Drew that Mom had blessed her with the right looks for _her_. Back then, it was things like that that made Drew hate her, her annoyingly perfect, so beloved big sister. What happened later just proved she was right about Silena, even though none of her siblings would ever acknowledge it.) Anyway, Nico’s luck of the draw makes Will happy, evidently, so Drew lets it go. He did always have a thing for nice hair.

-

The pattern is set. Nico comes once a month, when Drew snaps her fingers to let him know that she will no longer tolerate his split ends. Sometimes they talk. Sometimes it’s silent. Somewhere along the way, Nico and Will become boyfriends, officially, and the whole gods damn camp is happy for them, because Nico _needs_ happiness, and Will deserves it. They’re still a weird pair, but most of the Aphrodite cabin admits that whether their godly brother or mother set them up, sometimes the love gods really do know best. They work.

Since Piper (fucking Piper) dismissed the rite of passage once more, the Aphrodite cabin is a little more interested in making their own lasting relationships. Drew is the only one not involved in that. She doesn’t need it. She’s not even interested in anyone in camp right now. (Though if the Romans came back to visit, that praetor was yummy. Drew hasn’t dated a hot girl in a while, and that would be a nice one to try.) But Drew can’t escape romance no matter where she turns, except, ironically, when she cuts Nico’s hair.

It’s a day where Nico isn’t silent. He says, “Will misses you.”

Drew is surprised. She’d never mentioned their history to Nico. It wasn’t relevant information, and he hadn’t paid her any gossip that she’d trade in. It takes her too long to realize _Will_ must have told him. Of course he did. They spend so much time together, and Will’s siblings actually like Nico, which is ridiculous, because they always held Drew at an arm’s length, but they’ll take a son of Hades so readily. She’s not bitter. She redirects herself. So Will really trusts him.

(“I can’t even trust you, Drew. Gods, I-- I really liked you. How could you do that? I thought we were friends.”)

When she doesn’t answer, Nico speaks again. “I know he kind of goes out of his way to ignore you most of the time, but he does. It sounds like you really helped him settle in. Especially with the whole . . . .” Nico makes a weird gesture to his chest that Drew can only interpret as trans thing because she’s becoming alarmingly fluent in di Angelo Sign Language.

“You can say the word, you know,” she says, smacking her gum. “Will’s trans. He’s not ashamed of it.”

She says this because Nico is prone to using euphemisms to refer to anything out of what he considers the norms, even now that he’s dating Will. He’s still never called himself gay, and it was a slip of the tongue that made him call Will his boyfriend at the campfire--though no one dared tell Will that, not with the way his face lit up and he snuggled up to Nico’s side for the rest of the night. It’s important that he understands saying things like that would make Will insecure of Nico’s acceptance.

“I forgot the word,” he admits after a moment.

“Remember it,” she advises.

“That’s not the point.” Nico shuffles a little, stretching his legs out in front of him. One heel rests on the last step, and he rocks his foot back and forth, staring at the scuffs on the toe of his boot. “He misses you.”

Drew says, “When people break up, it can be awkward. Sometimes they’re just not friends anymore.”

Nico doesn’t seem to know what to say. But finally, he does manage to speak. “He wants to be. Friends, I mean. With you.”

Drew bites her lip, getting a bit of lipstick on her front teeth. “You don't know our history.”

“I know his side of it,” he says. Drew doesn't offer hers. They're quiet for a long time.

Nico is the one to break the silence. “You’re not so bad. I can see why he’d want to be your friend.”

“I’m not nice,” Drew says.

“You don’t want to be.”

She finishes trimming his hair, and he goes on his way. Nico never lingers, and Drew wonders if he meant what he said. If he wants to be her friend, why doesn’t he seek her out? Does she even care? She ignores all this as she packs away her supplies. They were a gift from Silena, when Drew had said she wanted to cut her own hair. Silena had always done it for her before then, especially when Drew came into camp with that gods awful bowl cut.

Silena was too nice. She never did tell Drew her hair looked bad. She just asked how Drew wanted to do her hair, as if wants mattered more than looks. Drew never wants to be like her.

But she supposes Nico's right. She may not want to be, but Drew doesn't always get what she wants.


End file.
